Marriage Education with Hispanic Couples: Evaluation of a Communication Workshop

Abstract

The Hispanic population is the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S. It is also a young population that faces a number of challenges including high rates of divorce and teenage pregnancy. Although marriage, or relationship, education is certainly not new, it is relatively unstudied among Hispanic couples. The Hispanic Active Relationships Project (HARP) was an initiative specifically designed as an outreach effort to Hispanic couples. This initiative was designed to provide participants with relationship and communication tools to increase relationship satisfaction, improve communication and conflict resolution skills, decrease negative interactions, and increase commitment to the relationship. The present study reports findings on the effectiveness of the HARP program based on data gathered from 550 individuals (275 couples) over a two and half year period. Participants were primarily Spanish speaking and at least half were first or second generation immigrants.